A pro-Russian militant stands guard near a piece of debris at the crash site

AFP: Bulent Kilic

Prime Minister Tony Abbott says human remains are still at the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash site more than a week after the disaster, highlighting the urgent need for an international force to secure the area.

Australia is still working for an agreement with Ukraine to allow an international police force into the country.

The Government has sent 150 federal police and some Defence personnel to Europe in preparation for the green light to enter eastern Ukraine to assist with the operation.

Mr Abbott has told a press conference that Australian officials again had access to the site on Friday.

"Plainly, there are unrecovered body remains in the area," he said.

"It's the presence of unrecovered remains that makes it more important than ever that an international team be despatched to the site to recover remains, to assist investigations and to obtain justice ... for the victims and their loved ones.

"Every day the site remains unsecured, there is more interference and the remains are subject to the ravages of the European summer, animals, disturbance, et cetera."

Mr Abbott stressed that Australia's involvement in the planned mission was only to secure the remains and help the investigation.

"It is, I stress, a humanitarian mission. Others can get involved if they wish in the politics of eastern Europe, our sole concern is to claim our dead and to bring them home," he said.

The plane was shot down over eastern Ukraine last week killing 298 people including 38 Australian citizens and residents.

At the moment, the guys are departing out of Eindhoven Air Base, where we are now. And it's a three-hour flight down to Ukraine. And from Ukraine we load up cargo and human remains and return to Eindhoven for another three-hour flight and then take part in the ramp ceremony here at Eindhoven Airport.

It's a big task. It's a very sad task. But all the folks deployed over here take great pride in taking part in it and just being able to help out with getting the people back to their families.

Probably the most challenging moment has been meeting the families after the ceremony here at Eindhoven. That's been certainly quite a touching moment.

They are thankful for what we are here doing. They're obviously going through untold grief but their only real response has been thankful that we're here.

Our crews are doing our utmost to get those people back to their families as soon as possible. We treat everyone we bring back as an Australian, as a fellow human being. And the most important thing is to get them home to their family as soon as possible.

I'd like to think if it was my family member out there and somebody else was able to help, they would do the same thing.

Pro-Russian rebels have continually caused problems during the investigation, blocking access to the site and harassing recovery workers.

However, a statement from the Kremlin said Russian president Vladimir Putin and Mr Abbott have discussed the need to ensure international recovery experts can work safely at the crash site.

Mr Najib said in a statement that pro-Russian rebels in control of the site had fulfilled two conditions in a deal reached with Malaysia - returning the bodies of the victims and the aircraft's two black boxes - but were yet facilitate a full investigation.

"My priority now is to ensure the third part of the deal is honoured, and that international investigators are given full and secure access to the site," he said.

"This will require the cooperation of those in control of the crash site and the Ukrainian armed forces."

"We believe our personnel are the best people for this job. [They are] experienced, dedicated," she said.

"This is a critical thing, to get Australian boots on the ground. Australian lives [were] lost.

"We know that we can make a contribution to the international investigation because of the professionalism of our AFP and so we want to see a contingent able to thoroughly investigate the site as quickly as possible."

Mr Abbott has said many of the AFP officers to be deployed in Ukraine will not be armed.

Dennis Gellatly, from the Australian Federal Police Association, told AM a briefing would be held on Monday to "understand exactly what is occurring in terms of risk mitigation and security of personnel".

"[The AFP's] international deployment group component has been operating for well over a decade and they place a very great emphasis on training for these sorts of missions," he said.

Ukraine's acting prime minister Volodymyr Groysman has said the ratification of an arrangement to allow international help is a priority.

Mr Groysman said he hoped the Ukrainian parliament would adopt the agreement next week.

The Prime Minister's special envoy, retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, has welcomed the remarks.

"Australia understands that this is a politically challenging time for Ukraine, and we greatly appreciate the assistance and cooperation received from president Poroshenko, acting prime minister Groysman, foreign minister Klimkin and other Ukrainian officials," he said.

Ms Bishop visited the location where the dead of MH17 are being loaded into body bags. After being taken off a train, the bodies are transported to Kharkiv airport to begin their journey home.

"I pay tribute to the people who are working there and carrying out this difficult but necessary task," she said.

A total of 189 bodies have so far been brought to the Netherlands from the crash site and will undergo formal identification by a team of forensic experts.

"Later today the last airlift will go from Kharkiv to the Netherlands with the final remains from the Ukrainian train and I expect that it will be met in the Netherlands by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop," Mr Abbott said.